Prashant Kishor is the only person who has done proper ground-level work and data collection in Bihar, but I have a problem with his solutions when it comes to poverty. In the 1990s, Ethiopia had a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 7. The Ethiopian government, along with the United Nations and allied organizations, started family planning initiatives and reduced the TFR to 6.6 by 2000. In 2000, Bill Ryerson of thePopulation Media Centerintroduced the Sabido Method in Ethiopia through the radio drama Yeken Kignit, using radio as the most affordable medium. The story is set in Ethiopia, where a girl’s father tries to marry her off in exchange for a bride price of a few cattle, following traditional customs. After witnessing a woman die during her seventh childbirth, the girl runs away to escape the same fate and later becomes a teacher, symbolizing women’s empowerment and the importance of education. Over two years, the program led to a 20% increase in girls’ secondary school enrollment. By the end of the decade, the total fertility rate fell from 6.6 to 4.8, while primary school enrollment rose from 60% to 90% and secondary enrollment from 10% to 30%. Apart from the impact of the radio drama, Ethiopia mainly progressed through the growth of its textile industry, which is considered women-friendly and provides vital employment opportunities. This economic empowerment played a key role in driving social change because, without economic incentives, lasting behavioral and cultural transformation is difficult to achieve. The death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in 2012 caused political uncertainty and slowed down the reforms for a decade, but they did not reverse, as the behavioral and cultural changes had already taken root. In the 1990s, Bihar was in a better position than Ethiopia, with a TFR of 4.5. When Nitish Kumar became Chief Minister in 2005, his government introduced structural reforms, and for girls, he provided free bicycles. After a decade, this increased female school enrollment to about 50% in primary education (still lower than Ethiopia), but dropout rates in secondary school remained high. The reason is simple — there were no opportunities like Ethiopia’s textile industry, and there was no educational awareness campaign like Yeken Kignit that helped people understand the real utility of education in practical life. If you look at GDP per capita, Bihar is still behind, despite having no major political instability or war-like crisis as Ethiopia had. In Bihar, the TFR among women who have completed Class 10 is 2.1, regardless of caste or religion. So, Bihar needs to solve the fundamental issue of population first before addressing any other problems, because no nation has ever progressed or developed with a high TFR, and no politician is discussing this issue.
Prashant Kishore on Bihar Poverty. It's traumatizing to interact with the poverty of Bihar for many but it doesn't mean nobody in the world knows the solution or possess the capabilities to understand or solve the issues. https://youtube.com/shorts/rOpvfGTpccY?si=QOF9KhlAnmK-F2-V
Caste plays a big role in Bihar politics and whenever we see caste oppression, we see it from lower caste male perspective not the female and that's why it hide the real issue. Rural India caste survive due to lack of MSME and women friendly industry such as Textile that's why South, West Bengal etc are able to overcome caste issue up to a high level as it setup the foundation for lower TFR. We need to ask the basic question, what will happen if lower caste people stop follow the norms ? Upper caste people will do violence against them but what is the logistics to do the violence ? High TFR, there must exists enough extra young men in upper caste population to do the violence whom the parents of upper caste hindu's are willing to loose. So, when we dug deep in reality it fundamentally question the "institution of marriage based on orthodox Hindu doctrine" and "concept of traditional family" that's why we avoid this question and it's very hard to digest.
Yash PratapPrashant Kishore did a great work in terms of collecting data only but his solution approach was totally flop because it doesn't include the real problem of poverty and lower caste women. In reality Nitish Kumar is not pro lower caste women either but atleast he doesn't invisibalise them. Prashant Kishore tailored message according to Urban India, probably to scam political parties for consulting project, he earned big money, his networth is 200 crore now. I think his aim was already clear, he wants to earn money by capitalising on the biases of Urban Indians.
It’s a complicated situation. Bihar was much ahead of TN in the 50s and 60s. With almost the same kind of population growth. Biharis are intelligent and hardworking people.Had DMK kind of a party come to power in Bihar it would have progressed tremendously. Even now it’s not late. Dravidian Economics can turn Bihar around.
16 replies
16 Replies on Ravi Kumar Murugesan’s comment
Ravi Kumar MurugesanI don't completely agree that its because of DMK kind of party . It mainly depends on each politician's mindset be it opposition or ruling. When DMK brings a development plan , AIADMK never opposes if it benefits TN .Likewise I don't think DMK never opposed any good development plan when AIADMK was ruling. If each and every politicans think that they all wanted to make their state better , then Bihar too will get progressed !
Yash PratapBD is yet to sustain. And it is a country. TN is just a state which survives at the mercy of a foolish union government. I think you should read more about Indian economy and its foolish federal set up.
Ravi Kumar Murugesanthe key underlying principle is women oriented industry such as textile to reduce TFR. Send a girl school for 10 years, it will reduced TFR to 2.1 currently it's 3 and among the poorest ebc sc st it's 4.1 we need to focus on them first because if we reduce this then the entire structure of exploitation can be fixed. We need to tilt bangladesh model according to Bihar.
Ravi Kumar Murugesan"Even now it’s not late." It probably is late. If not late, extremely hard for sure, as attracting capital will be hard given all the other options capital has. Why would those with capital take risks when they have other lower risk choices?
Ravi Kumar Murugesan,It’s wrong notion that Bihar was ahead of TN in 50’s and 60’s.Why it slipped down upto 1990 while ruling castes were the same.Even UP completed land consolidation,many times while Bihar made illegal appointments in name of Land Consolidation.
Ravi Kumar MurugesanScope/Hope is always there. Question is what is probable. There my bet is on extremely low probability (closer to not possible). I think for now Bihar should focus on remittance economy. So migration to the richer Indian States, Gulf, etc. Once the remittances have reached a decent level that can be invested in Better Housing/Education/Healthcare, then see what next to attract capital.
Arun Kumar MaheshwariOne possible solution could be that the Government of Bihar provides land and resources to the governments of southern states, such as Tamil Nadu. In exchange, these southern states could set up textile industries in Bihar—industries that are female-friendly and have a high employment generation capacity. This could help reduce the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) to 2 by improving female enrolment in secondary schools within the next 10–15 years. The southern states could also benefit from Bihar’s workforce to enhance their infrastructure. Additionally, South Indian states like Tamil Nadu could become attractive retirement destinations for European and US citizens, similar to Indonesia and Malaysia.
Yash Pratap"In exchange, these southern states could set up textile industries in Bihar" Are the textile industries in Bihar run by States or private enterprise. I assume private enterprise. So the question for them is "risk". If you are suggesting the State do this, then they still have a lot of things to do for their State (people in it), why would they get distracted from that need.
Arun Kumar MaheshwariIf the Tamil Nadu government acquires land and resources in Bihar and undertakes the initial development, they could later sell the land to private players at higher prices. The government’s involvement would help mitigate risks, making it a win-win situation. However, after a few decades, these private players could become the real estate kings of Bihar, which would involve a certain level of colonialism. For political parties, this could also mean significant cost-cutting opportunities for future political funding. People can do this even for wrong reason and still help Bihar. This is very typical way of helping which politicians all around the world offers.
Yash PratapIf TN was fully developed and rich with surplus I could understand. At present levels, Bihar opposition would complain of sell-off and TN opposition would complain of diverting funds needed for TN. I seriously doubt this is realistic and politically tenable path for either parties. It requires some serious enlightenment on both sides which doesn't exist.
Arun Kumar MaheshwariTN rich people will gain money later from such investment so they'll lobby if they wish. Political narrative is interesting phenomena, only 20% of population of Bihar watch mainstream media, other people are very poor they haven't pass class 10 so you can sell them anything. If political parties manage somehow 1-1.5 crore people votebank then they can control 13.9 crore bihari people narrative. That's why politician are never afraid to say "bhais khol kr le jaayenge" publically. When wealth of upper castes becomes equal to wealth of lower caste and minorities in Urban areas of Bihar then automatically politicians change their tune until a new migration scheme is created or a new form of upper caste emerges .. just like in TN, OBC replace the role of Brahmin as oppressor, obviously things improve statistically a lot but oppression remain and change its form We just change labels and types of atrocities according to culture and religion but game of inequality remains the similar, in numbers and formula, things remain similar. Whenever politics seems unreasonable, always follows migration data and you'll find it moving in same direction or stagnant. Political parties can do many things if they wish.
Debasish Roymy opinion is to follow Bangladesh Model. The key underlying principle is women oriented industry such as textile to reduce TFR. Send a girl school for 10 years, it will reduced TFR to 2.1 currently it's 3 and among the poorest ebc sc st it's 4.1 we need to focus on them first because if we reduce this then the entire structure of exploitation can be fixed. We need to tilt bangladesh model according to Bihar. Bangladesh model must not be confused with Bangladesh country because models doesn't consider political instability factors and that's why model alone doesn't solve the problem but it provides direction and methodology. The Ethopian model is also decent which I mentioned above.
Debasish Roywill do after sometime when I recieved all questions and doubts people have regarding this issue in this post. I believe people's question and curiosity will help me understand better where to focus.
We are having a falling TFR in the country which is currently below the replacement rateYash Pratap. TFR in itself is not a problem if we can educate them properly and make good use of the manpower by providing them with enough opportunities which will inturn help in personal growth and nation building. The issue here is the numbers not being utilised to their full potential, but becoming a burden on the nation depending on handouts from the government. I would like the government to spend on building infrastructure/frameworks for education and employment rather than giving freebies. Link to a speech from a few years ago by Amitabh Kant, the then CEO of Niti Ayog. https://youtu.be/IKesrwpSmbo
Mahak .No need for sympathy, he made 200 crore 😅 , Prashant Kishore did a great work in terms of collecting data only but his solution approach was totally flop because it doesn't include the real problem of poverty and lower caste women. In reality Nitish Kumar is not pro lower caste women either but atleast he doesn't invisibalise them. Prashant Kishore tailored message according to Urban India, probably to scam political parties for consulting project, he earned big money, his networth is 200 crore now. I think his aim was already clear, he wants to earn money by capitalising on the biases of Urban Indians.
Yash Pratap In India we will not be seeing any huge increase in population and possibly we'll see a decline as per current data. I can see things are changing all over the world too. I am not sure if I would agree with only 1.8 billion people should exist. I think if world population is distributed equally, we still can accomodate what we have. It's not easy to force worldwide population control as people have expedience bias and while the population density in India will promote having less children, it might not work the same way in a country with a fraction of our population density.
Peter Geraldplease read more about climate change to understand this issue. Actually population of west is de-growing rapidly so they're worried about their race as they consider other people inferior, same is true for upper caste Hindu of urban India. So, this is classic right wing propaganda going on. Please read any textbook you'll find we're suffering from overpopulation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_overpopulation
Yash, I tagged your post to offer a perspective. Comparing Bihar to Ethiopia may be valid, but it’s still apples to oranges. Kerala’s transformation wasn’t accidental it was built on decades of deliberate investment in education, public health, land reforms, decentralized governance, and social equity. Despite limited industrial growth, they prioritized people and it shows. Kerala consistently outperforms not just Bihar but any other Indian state across literacy, health, gender equity, and poverty and social parameters. If Kerala could do it, Bihar absolutely can. The real question is: don’t the people of Bihar deserve a governance model that delivers?
Mitesh Bhattthe secret is "textile and women friendly industry and reducing TFR by enrollment till class 10" and it's implications .. all other things are jumlebaazi.
Yash, at its core, leadership is about the will to act—not just to speak. There’s no universal fix for every challenge, but impactful solutions emerge when they’re rooted in the realities of the people, the land, the culture, and the skills that define them. When a ruler truly commits to this lens, the outcomes aren’t just temporary—they’re sustainable, transformative, and deeply felt. Kerala sees it in educating women. Ethiopians see it in textiles.
Nitish’s sarkar did improve girls’ schooling, but Bihar still lags because leaders ignore the biggest challenge: high TFR and no jobs like Ethiopia’s textile boom. Real progress demands both population control and women’s economic opportunities, not just bicycle schemes!
Sharma RSWe must understand inspite 20 years Nitish rule in Bihar why industry has not preferred it for setting their plants. I think it could be: 1) Still in rural area mafias are active. 2) Biharis work hard when they’re away from it but when in Bihar act more as Don/Neta. Industry couldn’t work in such culture. 3) No concentrate steps by Nitish Government to stop skill/brain drain. 4) Multiple time deflection of Nitish from one group to other group affected his image for industry to come to Bihar. 5) Lack of proper infrastructure.
We need to change our mindset about education. Why do we always equate being educated with having high school degrees, college graduations, or becoming engineers and doctors? The true foundation of education is the ability to read, write understand basic financial literacy. Simply providing schools,colleges, laptops,or bicycles is not enough to help the underprivileged survive and thrive.Our education system must be redesigned around practical skill development.Moreover,we must move beyond limited vocational options like data entry, beauty parlors, or stitching —the world has evolved, technology has opened up vast new opportunities. We can learn a lot from the Western world,where skill development starts at the school level.This ensures that even if someone drops out,they still possess employable skills to earn aliving.Inmany developed countries,professionals working in advanced technical fields often hold trade certifications with relevant experience —not necessarily elite degrees from top institutions. It’s time we adopt a similar,skill-centric approach to make education truly meaningful & inclusive. Trust me no political party in India ever wants those under previledge people to empower with education which is a sad fact.
Sunil L.Education is bit tricky which is not the core part of discussion here. Indian education system has no problem (till class 5) and it becomes problematic after that due to excessive rote learning with no long term benefits and rote learning is beneficial before class 5. I do believe true financial literacy is very difficult to learn because "finance" don't work the same way in India. Finance is all about risk management and freedom but risk in developing and developed countries are different. In developed countries risk are very much predictable but in developing counties risks are very different. Say you purchase a real estate in Noida and you thought it will give you return but in reality developer took a big chunk of your life earnings and now you are helpless because you haven't done the correct risk assessment. In developing countries a big chunk of risk comes from caste, communal, race etc based hatred and votebank politics. Which financial literacy book wrote about it ? Are people even willing to acknowledge the social evils ? We assume too many things when we think of education.
1. Collecting data is hard work. 2. Using data effectively is smart work. Without hard/smart work in Indian politics, even a donkey 🐴 or monkey 🐵 can become the king 👑 or Queen 👑. The beauty is that entire India does not need examples on this topic. Jai Hind 😀🙏
Prashant Kishore has not got his basics right, we all know Bihar produces the highest number of Administrative officers be it IAS or any other yet Bihar is a poor state, the basic problem is neither caste, colour, creed nor is it education, it is the balance between the two, unless and until Biharis decide what exactly they need, every political party will take them for a ride
1 reply
1 Comment on Raghuvamsha Arjun Chetty’s comment
Raghuvamsha Arjun Chettyvery reductive statement, not all Biharis the same, different socioeconomic backgrounds people have different goals. These statements make all Biharis a monolith which can be good for political speech but not for understanding the issue.
There can't be economic growth without maintaining birth rates. Population of radicals is increasing. There will be safety and economic growth issue in the future if birth rate is not maintained.
Some comments may not be displayed in the Most relevant view. To see these comments, select Most recent.
Yash Pratap
Author
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/yashp2411_climate-change-is-mostly-a-physics-problem-activity-7388646594713337856-ZFEF
Climate change: A physics problem with a political solution | Yash Pratap posted on the topic | LinkedIn
Climate change is mostly a physics problem that happened due to massive industrialisation in the last two centuries, but its solution is very much political. China (~25%), the US (~12%), the EU (~6–7%), and India (~7%) together produce around half of...
Swastik Nag
• 1st
Yash Pratap
Author
It's traumatizing to interact with the poverty of Bihar for many but it doesn't mean nobody in the world knows the solution or possess the capabilities to understand or solve the issues.
https://youtube.com/shorts/rOpvfGTpccY?si=QOF9KhlAnmK-F2-V
Bihar आंकड़ों से ज्यादा जमीन पर गरीब! | Prashant Kishor Interview | Bihar Election 2025 | News Pinch
Abhinav Pandey and the News Pinch team reached the residence of Prashant Kishor — the man whose name has become synonymous with political change in Bihar. From crafting national election strategies to walking village after village under the Jan Suraaj...
Yash Pratap
Author
https://youtu.be/-3DaMHUZ4VM?si=KMa3I_QHJOysFBws
Population Media Center's Bill Ryerson Interviewed by LivingECHO.com's Ken Spector
Find green products at the best prices at http://www.livingeco.com Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/livingeco Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/livingeco. Population Media Center's President Bill Ryerson interviewed by...
Yash Pratap
Author
Yash Pratap
Author
Ravi Kumar Murugesan
• 1st
Muralikrishnan S
• 2nd
Ravi Kumar Murugesan
• 1st
Yash Pratap
Author
Ravi Kumar Murugesan
• 1st
Yash Pratap
Author
Ravi Kumar Murugesan
• 1st
Arun Kumar Maheshwari
• 2nd
It probably is late. If not late, extremely hard for sure, as attracting capital will be hard given all the other options capital has. Why would those with capital take risks when they have other lower risk choices?
S S Badhawan
• Following
Ravi Kumar Murugesan
• 1st
Arun Kumar Maheshwari
• 2nd
I think for now Bihar should focus on remittance economy. So migration to the richer Indian States, Gulf, etc. Once the remittances have reached a decent level that can be invested in Better Housing/Education/Healthcare, then see what next to attract capital.
Yash Pratap
Author
Arun Kumar Maheshwari
• 2nd
Are the textile industries in Bihar run by States or private enterprise. I assume private enterprise. So the question for them is "risk". If you are suggesting the State do this, then they still have a lot of things to do for their State (people in it), why would they get distracted from that need.
Yash Pratap
Author
People can do this even for wrong reason and still help Bihar. This is very typical way of helping which politicians all around the world offers.
Arun Kumar Maheshwari
• 2nd
Yash Pratap
Author
Political narrative is interesting phenomena, only 20% of population of Bihar watch mainstream media, other people are very poor they haven't pass class 10 so you can sell them anything.
If political parties manage somehow 1-1.5 crore people votebank then they can control 13.9 crore bihari people narrative.
That's why politician are never afraid to say "bhais khol kr le jaayenge" publically.
When wealth of upper castes becomes equal to wealth of lower caste and minorities in Urban areas of Bihar then automatically politicians change their tune until a new migration scheme is created or a new form of upper caste emerges .. just like in TN, OBC replace the role of Brahmin as oppressor, obviously things improve statistically a lot but oppression remain and change its form
We just change labels and types of atrocities according to culture and religion but game of inequality remains the similar, in numbers and formula, things remain similar.
Whenever politics seems unreasonable, always follows migration data and you'll find it moving in same direction or stagnant.
Political parties can do many things if they wish.
Sriram Radhakrishnan
• 2nd
Debasish Roy • 1st
Yash Pratap
Author
Bangladesh model must not be confused with Bangladesh country because models doesn't consider political instability factors and that's why model alone doesn't solve the problem but it provides direction and methodology. The Ethopian model is also decent which I mentioned above.
Debasish Roy • 1st
Yash Pratap
Author
Debasish Roy • 1st
Peter Gerald
• 1st
TFR in itself is not a problem if we can educate them properly and make good use of the manpower by providing them with enough opportunities which will inturn help in personal growth and nation building.
The issue here is the numbers not being utilised to their full potential, but becoming a burden on the nation depending on handouts from the government.
I would like the government to spend on building infrastructure/frameworks for education and employment rather than giving freebies.
Link to a speech from a few years ago by Amitabh Kant, the then CEO of Niti Ayog.
https://youtu.be/IKesrwpSmbo
Yash Pratap
Author
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/yashp2411_climate-change-is-mostly-a-physics-problem-activity-7388646594713337856-ZFEF?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&rcm=ACoAACxrlNsBn9c2b7b2lZ8UK2ckDiW-YTjaB0I
Mahak . • 1st
Yash Pratap
Author
Prashant Kishore did a great work in terms of collecting data only but his solution approach was totally flop because it doesn't include the real problem of poverty and lower caste women. In reality Nitish Kumar is not pro lower caste women either but atleast he doesn't invisibalise them. Prashant Kishore tailored message according to Urban India, probably to scam political parties for consulting project, he earned big money, his networth is 200 crore now. I think his aim was already clear, he wants to earn money by capitalising on the biases of Urban Indians.
Peter Gerald
• 1st
In India we will not be seeing any huge increase in population and possibly we'll see a decline as per current data.
I can see things are changing all over the world too.
I am not sure if I would agree with only 1.8 billion people should exist. I think if world population is distributed equally, we still can accomodate what we have.
It's not easy to force worldwide population control as people have expedience bias and while the population density in India will promote having less children, it might not work the same way in a country with a fraction of our population density.
The global decline of the fertility rate
The total fertility rate has halved in sixty years — what are the causes of the decline?
Yash Pratap
Author
So, this is classic right wing propaganda going on. Please read any textbook you'll find we're suffering from overpopulation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_overpopulation
Mitesh Bhatt
• 2nd
Mitesh Bhatt
• 2nd
I tagged your post to offer a perspective. Comparing Bihar to Ethiopia may be valid, but it’s still apples to oranges.
Kerala’s transformation wasn’t accidental it was built on decades of deliberate investment in education, public health, land reforms, decentralized governance, and social equity. Despite limited industrial growth, they prioritized people and it shows.
Kerala consistently outperforms not just Bihar but any other Indian state across literacy, health, gender equity, and poverty and social parameters. If Kerala could do it, Bihar absolutely can.
The real question is: don’t the people of Bihar deserve a governance model that delivers?
Yash Pratap
Author
Mitesh Bhatt
• 2nd
Kerala sees it in educating women.
Ethiopians see it in textiles.
Sharma RS • 1st
Yash Pratap
Author
Ramesh Gosai
• 2nd
1) Still in rural area mafias are active.
2) Biharis work hard when they’re away from it but when in Bihar act more as Don/Neta. Industry couldn’t work in such culture.
3) No concentrate steps by Nitish Government to stop skill/brain drain.
4) Multiple time deflection of Nitish from one group to other group affected his image for industry to come to Bihar.
5) Lack of proper infrastructure.
Sunil L.
• 2nd
Simply providing schools,colleges, laptops,or bicycles is not enough to help the underprivileged survive and thrive.Our education system must be redesigned around practical skill development.Moreover,we must move beyond limited vocational options like data entry, beauty parlors, or stitching —the world has evolved, technology has opened up vast new opportunities.
We can learn a lot from the Western world,where skill development starts at the school level.This ensures that even if someone drops out,they still possess employable skills to earn a living.In many developed countries,professionals working in advanced technical fields often hold trade certifications with relevant experience —not necessarily elite degrees from top institutions. It’s time we adopt a similar,skill-centric approach to make education truly meaningful & inclusive.
Trust me no political party in India ever wants those under previledge people to empower with education which is a sad fact.
Yash Pratap
Author
I do believe true financial literacy is very difficult to learn because "finance" don't work the same way in India.
Finance is all about risk management and freedom but risk in developing and developed countries are different.
In developed countries risk are very much predictable but in developing counties risks are very different.
Say you purchase a real estate in Noida and you thought it will give you return but in reality developer took a big chunk of your life earnings and now you are helpless because you haven't done the correct risk assessment.
In developing countries a big chunk of risk comes from caste, communal, race etc based hatred and votebank politics. Which financial literacy book wrote about it ? Are people even willing to acknowledge the social evils ?
We assume too many things when we think of education.
Viswanathan A • 2nd
2. Using data effectively is smart work.
Without hard/smart work in Indian politics, even a donkey 🐴 or monkey 🐵 can become the king 👑 or Queen 👑.
The beauty is that entire India does not need examples on this topic. Jai Hind 😀🙏
Yash Pratap
Author
SUDHIR SADAR • 3rd+
Yash Pratap
Author
Col Sarang Kashikar Veteran
• 2nd
Yash Pratap
Author
Raghuvamsha Arjun Chetty • 2nd
Yash Pratap
Author
Vivek Bahire • 3rd+